FALL RIVER — When Michael Dion, the executive director of the Community Development Agency, went before the City Council last week it was something akin to a king’s welcome.

“I know you left for a little while and I was very disappointed,” said City Councilor Linda Pereira, “but when I saw you walking around the halls (of Government Center) I was very excited. So welcome back and don’t you leave us again because you do an excellent job Mr. Dion, and I thank you.”

It was the first council meeting Dion attended since his brief stint away from the CDA in January for a position at the Fall River Housing Authority as director of management and facilities.

Dion worked a total of three days after he changed his mind and returned to the CDA, admitting he had trepidation until his last day on the job at Government Center about making the change.

“I realized the position wasn’t a good fit for me,” Dion said. “It hit me that community development is my passion. I love the work we do here.”

This year will be Dion’s 16th year in August at CDA. He said he works with excellent people who accomplish about a lot in the community.

“I wanted to continue to make a positive impact,” Dion said.

While rewarding, working in community development has its challenges, Dion said, since all the programs it funds come from government grants.

“Over the last few years there’s been a feeling of instability on that part,” Dion said.

Dion and his agency had a special challenge recently when the city was shuttering properties owned by landlord David Colville, displacing numbers of families

Dion was charged with finding the homeless former tenants emergency shelter and then permanent housing. He said he couldn’t count the number of people the agency helped.

“We really changed a lot of lives,” Dion said, “I really believe all of those people are now in a much better situation than they were before.”